Dee Discusses: The Musketeers 2×2

I can always tell when I truly love a show, because when I do, I tend to forgive it flaws that I’d tear another show apart with. There were three things I found irritating in this episode, but at the end, I had such an entertaining time watching that I went ‘eh!’ I’ll get to those in a little bit. The general idea of this episode is the classic rich royal wants to pretend to be a normal person for a night, and things go horribly wrong. Louis has always been an interesting character to me, because he’s equally annoying and somewhat endearing. This episode he got a much larger role in, and I have to admire the actor for what he accomplishes. Louis is a bit of an ass. He’s privileged, snobby, whiny, and weak. But at the same time there’s a glimpse of a better person there, enough that you do believe he has the potential of being a good king. As a history nerd, I very much enjoyed him reflecting more about his history with his father and the crown. I even felt for him when he lamented not being able to be with his own son now, if they were killed. Except it’s not his son. Whoops.

So the King goes out with the Musketeers for a night at a tavern, just a few days before the christening ceremony for his son. I have to question the Musketeers in their choice of a tavern here; surely there was one they could strategically plan out or organize beforehand. Of course if they picked any of the ones they were used to, they’d recognize the King. I still feel like there should have been extra caution, but then it wouldn’t have been an episode. During a drunken brawl he unknowingly started, Louis and D’Artagnan were separated from the others and kidnapped. These people kidnap poor citizens who won’t be missed and sell them to the Spanish as slaves. This went right under the nose of the authorities, but they definitely picked the wrong people to snatch this time around. Louis and D’Artagnan bond about their fathers, Louis and his lack of one, and D’Artagnan’s relationship with his father before he died. It was a nice reminder of the big drive that first pilot had for D’Artagnan. After he was such a jerk to Constance in the last episode, it was nice to see him take a better story here. While at the camp, they befriend a fellow captive named Pepe, who is black so I went ‘well he’s dead.’ Unfortunately, that always tends to be true. Milady appears, having gotten back on her feet as expected by playing it smart and using the leader of the group to her advantage. She does set them free, for her own reasons, yes, although I maintain she could have easily used this to her own advantage and found a way to sell the King back.

Meanwhile the others desperately seek the King, while having everyone pretend that he’s fine so the kingdom doesn’t panic. Anne is understandably freaking out, mostly because having a baby heir is a terrifying concept for any throne. It’s led to incredibly bloody situations in the past. I do like that they used this historical reality as a plot point, with the Spanish diplomat telling Rochefort he was going to order the group to kill the King. That way they could take advantage. Rochefort persuaded Anne to message her brother, something she swore not to do, in case Louis died and she had to be regent. Constance tried hard to persuade her to trust the Musketeers, but I’m sympathetic to Anne, because it is a terrifying position to be in. We still haven’t gotten any explanation for why Rochefort and Anne are so close, I’d like to know that. The King makes it back in time, with Pepe dying during the escape, and he turns on D’Artagnan. But they were bros! Sigh. Mostly he orders him to kill a blacksmith whose brother was in charge of it, but the King swore he’d let him live if he helped them escape. D’Artagnan wouldn’t follow the order, so Rochefort did it. It’s pointed out that the King was scared after his ordeal and honestly was looking for a scapegoat. They just presented him with a good reason. The group gave Pepe’s family all the money they had at hand and pretended it was from the King.

Milady managed to get back by saving the King again and seducing him. Not officially yet, but she did steal a kiss from him. The looks of each Musketeer as they saw her again was priceless. Especially Athos of course. I always admire the actors, because Athos and Milady can say essays to each other with glares alone. I’m glad to have her back, I imagine she’ll team up with Rochefort. Did they know each other before? They were both the Cardinal’s people. I have to admit Rochefort doesn’t really work for me. He’s not as dynamic as the Cardinal. I’m kind of indifferent to him so far. He didn’t want to kill the King, so does he have a redeemable part? Or was it just because he couldn’t control what would happen afterward? I’m curious. And he’s doing an excellent job of putting issues between the Musketeers and the King, hell, he does that better than the Cardinal. Not that the Musketeers are helping themselves, eesh. Oh also Aramis is sleeping with the baby’s nanny so he can spend some time with his son. Gross, Aramis. I don’t care what your reasons are. That’s very uncool. I think I’m too pragmatic to be a Musketeer, because I was like D’Artagnan, that guy is dead either way. And your King gave you an order. WTF. He could basically be charged with treason over that nonsense, it’s not the same as Treville not wanting to take a position. There’s a fine line between soldier and executioner, honey. I get it, but he had an opportunity to keep the King’s favor. Whatevs.

The three things I didn’t like about this episode are fairly obvious: Pepe’s tropeful death, Aramis seducing the nanny, and Louis’ lack of character development. I hate when things just automatically go to the status quo every single week. I want to see characters change, even if it’s only slightly. Did I expect Louis to be a man of the people after this episode? Definitely not. I just hate when they give us glimpses of a better character, and then decide to go ‘naw he’s the same as always.’ I expect it’s more about the fact this season he’s going to increasingly dislike the Musketeers, so they can’t just have them be best friends now. Still. We can laugh at the King and roll our eyes at him, but I don’t really want to hate the guy. It’s nice to think on some level he’s worth fighting for, when he’s obviously not here. But I’m excited that Milady’s back in the mix, and in a way that makes sense. I love Constance and Anne being BFFs. I’m still not that interested in the Aramis-baby plot, but whatever, it’s reality, have to accept it. Next week seems interesting. I hope they remember to sprinkle in more comedy; there were laughs in this, but not many. And I’d like to see the four together more, for some reason they seem more separate than usual lately. As usual though it’s super fun to see CSI: Paris. I love how they solve their crimes.